Wilton High School grad speaks on conservation efforts in Madagascar

By MATT KIERNANVillager Staff Writer

Published
5:15 pm EDT, Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Kate Macauley spaeks about her recent 3-month experience in Madagascar with the WWF, a leading international conservation organization. Living outside of Fandriana, Madagascar, in the central eastern part of the country, Kate worked on combating deforestation in rural villages near the rainforest corridor. Kate graduated from Wilton High School in 2007 and from Yale University in 2011 with degrees in economics and environmental engineering.

Kate Macauley spaeks about her recent 3-month experience in Madagascar with the WWF, a leading international conservation organization. Living outside of Fandriana, Madagascar, in the central eastern part of

Kate Macauley spaeks about her recent 3-month experience in Madagascar with the WWF, a leading international conservation organization. Living outside of Fandriana, Madagascar, in the central eastern part of the country, Kate worked on combating deforestation in rural villages near the rainforest corridor. Kate graduated from Wilton High School in 2007 and from Yale University in 2011 with degrees in economics and environmental engineering.

Kate Macauley spaeks about her recent 3-month experience in Madagascar with the WWF, a leading international conservation organization. Living outside of Fandriana, Madagascar, in the central eastern part of

WILTON -- When Wilton High School graduate Kate Macauley departed America for Madagascar this past spring, she sought to preserve a land harmed by deforestation.

A 2007 WHS graduate, Macauley traveled to the rural town of Fadriana in the country's east central region to volunteer for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). What she found when she arrived was a town thriving with beautiful landscapes, but in dire need of conservation.

"Madagascar has huge deforestation issues," said Macauley on Monday.

Macauley visited the Wilton Library's Brubeck Room to discuss with residents her volunteer work for the WWF.

The WWF works with local people in Madagascar to attract new businesses that are opposed to slash-and-burn agricultural techniques and avoid endangering the country's rainforests.

As a 2011 Yale University graduate with degrees in economics and environmental engineering, Macauley left her job in commodities to embark on the three-month-long trip.

"It was a big jump from finance in New York City," she said.

According to Macauley, she worked 12-hour days in a NYC finance department for more than a year, trying to survive her first job outside of college.

She was able to land a management consultant career in Boston starting in September, and needed something to fill the time.

A few weeks after leaving her NYC position in March, she booked her flight to the island country.

"It had been a goal of mine since college to have an experience in a developing world," she said.

Madagascar was the perfect outlet as it allowed her to fight for an environmental cause and practice French, one of the country's main languages, she said.

Macauley flew for 15 hours from New York to Johannesburg, South Africa. She then traveled for more than three hours to Madagascar, just off the southeastern coast of Africa.

Awaiting her were five other volunteers from France, Canada and Rwanda taking part in the WWF's Innovative Community Finance Mechanism. The project acts to find local communities ways to generate revenue without destroying their forests.

The World Bank estimates that 70 percent of Madagascar's population can be defined as poor and 59 percent as extremely poor.

Many of the country's tree resources have been depleted over the years due to slashing-and-burning activities, Macauley said.

"It takes decades for some of these trees to grow back," she said.

On the island are 250,000 animal species, 70 percent of which cannot be found elsewhere in the world.

According to Macauley, she stayed with various families in the region and was mostly surrounded by rolling hills and farmland.

"It was beautiful," said Macauley.

The central challenges of her volunteer group were to find ways to combat deforestation, protect the island's coral reefs, research climate change and preserve biodiversity.

Along the way, she formed bonds with the area's people through their conservation work, dance and eating together.

She said the locals were often taken aback at the sight of the WWF volunteers because they had not seen a foreigner in at least five years.

One lesson Macauley and her group taught the people were the negative aspects of burning down the forests. She said she tried to emphasize how long it would take for the trees to grow back if they were burned down.

"Slash-and-burn is now an illegal activity, but you still see it happening," she said.

The WWF also taught locals new forms of agriculture, like growing coffee plants. The organization provided them with materials and lessons on how to grow the plants, and allowed the people to sell the products to build new schools and infrastructure.

Restoring the forests is a key initiative of the WWF, Macauley said.

"They plant thousands of trees a year in these communities," she said.

Since leaving Madagascar, Macauley said she remains in contact with one family there, but that it is difficult to communicate with all of them because they do not have computers or telephones.

She said she hopes to combine her knowledge of business and the environment for a future job.

"I'm still young in my career, so I'm still hoping to build up the tools," she said.

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